Teachers' union behind anti-Rhee site

Rheefirst.com, the anonymous website bashing former D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, was created by a computer registered to the American Federation of Teachers.

The site, which refers to Rhee as “the Sarah Palin of education” among other things and is the main online source of attacks on Rhee, was launched in February. An tracking tool traces the IP address back to the AFT’s offices in D.C. The site has since jumped to several other IP addresses.

It’s not a huge surprise that the AFT doesn’t like Rhee, but both Rhee and the teachers’ unions have avoided appearing to personalize what is, in fact, a very personal policy conflict.

The site is the latest in a series of seemingly grass-roots education movements that are actually backed by unions and union members. Last month, we reported that the Save Our Schools March presented itself as a grass-roots event but failed to publicly list the union members involved in its executive committee.

A spokesman for AFT has not yet responded to POLITICO’s request for comment.